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This week's topic focused on the relationship between medicine, the technology used in medicine and art. According to Professor Vesna, the dissection of human corpses and anatomy in general is truly the intersection of art and science and more specifically, medicine and art. Human beings have always had a fascination with knowing more about our own bodies. The ancient Egyptians utilized dissection and mummification to preserve their dead for spiritual purposes. The dissection of corpses began to be used for more scientific purposes during the time of the ancient Greeks who then developed the scientific method during the Renaissance Era.                               Illustration   of   a   dissection  ( De   Re   Anatomica ,  1559 ). Usually when people think of the intersection between medicine and art they think of plastic surgery. In this week's lecture, I was s...

For my first event, I made a visit to UCLA's Meteorite Collection located in the Geology Building. UCLA's collection is the largest on the West Coast, the fifth largest in the U.S., and the second largest at a university. On my walk to the gallery from north campus, I was reminded of the "two cultures" topic we covered for our first week of class. After walking around the gallery and learning about various types of meteorite, I came to understand how important it is to experience both "cultures" as much as possible. If I had remained closed off to the "other culture" of math and science, I would have missed out on an amazing learning experience right on campus. The Meteorite Gallery also helped me to understand the concept of science as art. All of the meteorites in the collection were displayed like works of art. Each meteorite had a description detailing the name, the place where the piece was found, the composition, etc. Also, many of the pi...

In this week’s lecture, the history of industrialization and its influence and connection to modern day art was greatly emphasized by Professor Vesna. American mass production was first revolutionized by Henry Ford who utilized assembly lines to create cars that were inexpensive and allowed workers to be paid a living wage. However, the idea of “separating actions into pieces and having each worker do a part of the productions” first came about with the creation of the printing press (Vesna).   Ford's assembly line. Live-News24. Like author Walter Benjamin, many people feel negatively about industrialization and the impact (both real and potential) that it can have on art, culture and humanity. In his book, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction , Benjamin argues that mass production and reproduction depreciates a piece of art by taking away the “aura” of the original. For example, using Benjamin's argument, digital prints of da Vinci’s Mona Lisa ...

Prior to this week's lecture and course readings, I was unaware of the extent mathematics had influenced art. Without the integration of mathematics into the artistic process, art would not be what it is today. This is especially true since the artistic depiction of the fourth dimension can only be accomplished with the utilization of mathematics. Besides the fourth dimension, I learned about a few other concepts that showcase the intersection of mathematics and art. From Professor Vesna's lecture, I learned about the golden ratio which exemplifies this crossroad. The golden ratio is calculated by dividing a line so that "the shorter part is to the longer part as the longer part is to the whole" (Vesna). The golden ratio can be seen in a number of structures and paintings like the Athenian Parthenon, the Egyptian Pyramids, and Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa. Da Vinci "The Last Supper" showing golden ratios   Also, I learned about the origins of pers...

Even though the word "science" is in the name of my major, I could not be more separate from the world of science and mathematics as a Political Science student. Political Science is considered an arts degree and constitutes a great deal of reading. Prior to this week, I was unaware of C.P. Snow and his 1959 lecture on the two cultures of literary intellectuals and scientific intellectuals. However, I have always sensed the divide between the two and the rift is even more evident in college. As Professor Vesna mentioned in her lecture, the campus is split between North Campus (literary side of campus) and South Campus (math and science side of campus). There is minimal mixing in between the two campuses; in my four years, I have only taken around 4 classes within South Campus. Courtesy of U.C.L.A. :  http://www.ucla.edu/pdf/ucla-campus-map.pdf However, contrary to John Brockman's theory, I do not believe that the two cultures should remain separated. As a Japanese a...